AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 78, 28 September 1907, Page 16

AGRICULTURAL AFFAIRS

There is every probability, says th<? Levin Farmer, that the whole of thq milk produced in the district of Levin during next winter will be railed to Wellington to supply the needs of tho city with fresh milk. From present appearances there is every prospect of a very large crop of fruit in tho Roxburgh district this coming season. The apricot • trees especially (says the Mount Benger Mail) are showing signs of heavy bearing. Considerable interest has been displayed at Huntly in the eggs laid by an ordinary duck belonging to Mr. F. J. Cox. They aro dark grey, variegated by darker spots of varying size at irregular intervals. Eggs aormal in size, but of this colour, have been of constant occurrence throughout tho last six weoks. A number of settlers In the Hundalee Settlement (says the Marlborough Herald) are introducing the electric light into their dwellings, and have completed a dam' across Te Mukuri (Dog Creek) for that purpose. Much interest is taken in the experiment. The mountain ranges look very beauuful '-n their thick coat of snow, as seen k from Timaru (says the Herald). They' aye not. so beautiful to the lessees of die hill runs, whoso sheep are hard up for' feed- So heavy a snow so late in the soason is particularly bad, as the lambing season so near and the ewes will be weakened by their spell of short commons. As an indication of the mildness of the past winter (saya tho Southland Daily News) it is worthy of note that out of a flock of 8100 ewes and hoggets (principally the latter) turniped on Mr. 0. HowelPs Moa Flat Falls property, only seven died — one ewe and six hoggets. It is no uncommon thing to lose as many out of one hundred. The following advertisement apeared in -\ Taranakj paper: "Wanted (by healthy girl), position in good home in country; able to milk and do housework." Within half-an-hour of publica-' lion the applicant had found an employer to her mind. The fortunate one had his prize sent to his home by the express train next morning. Fully fifty onquirjes, oral and written,, came too late. Reports received by the Ashburton Guardian snow that in some ' districts the losses of lambs have been exceptionally heavy. A farmer at the Willowby, on looking round his flock the other morning, found 30 dead lambs. Another farmer at Lowclifie reports a loss of twelve per cent, on the young lambs dropped. Mr. T Langley, of Dromore, is reported tp have lost over sixty lambs last Friday, evening. A hills resident intorms the Ashburton Guardian that while riding near a gorse fence recently, a rabbit sprang up and made into a patch of dense outgrowing bushes cropped short by sheep. He searched the place and found a beaton track, and on tracing it to its destination found a fur-lined nest on the surface of the ground, in which the labbit and a stoat were nestling affectionately together. The quantity of the fur of both that was about indicated that the place had long been their home. Here h another interesting point for the students of nature. Ground intended for planting with asparagus (our contributor '"Experience" writes) should be stirred occasionally to keep it sweot A dressing of salt and soot will fertiliso it and clearofi-aU' veiS mm, an important thing with this plant, as the loss of a few shoots may mean loss of plants. Planting should not be done yet. Keep the ground well stirred 'between growing crops of all descriptions-, it not only keeps weeds from growing, which is mucli better than hoeing them out after growing, but also admits air, with its fertilising properties, effecting a vast improvement in tho development lof crops. Get ground ready for the main crop of potatoes, so that it may sweeten before planting. Over fifty per cent, of Che North and Central Otago cattle (says the Otautau Standard) have either beeni cold or removed to other centres, or sent to the boiling-down works owing to the drought. .With, entire absence of demand from outsido Southland, holders of store cattlo have had a depressing time; they have been about the only Southland farm produce that have had foT many months to meet a stale and languishing market. According to accounts from the country (writes the North Ota go Times), turnips for starving stock will soon be a thing of the past. Th« grass is coming away well, and rape and green ciops that were put in in the autumn are rushing along at a wonderful rate. The stock that are left in the district, however, will bo unable to keep the fesd down, but when the drought became so pronounced many sheep owners sent their stock north and south for feed, and these will no doubt bo brought back at the proper time to assist in keeping down the abundance of feed that must follow tho plentiful rain.' Those farmers who have been holding off buying sheep (says the Orepuki Advocate), under the impression that they were too dear, and that as turnip crops were eaten off stock would come down, are likely to find themselves disappointed if tiia predictions of a recent visitor to Canterbury are correct. This gentleman, who has been viirough a good deal of Canterbury and North Otago, and is -well acquainted with Southland, predicts a ris.s within a month of 2s 6d a head in sheep, as, with depleted northern flocks, recent n\.iindant rai;., and promise of eariy spring feed, there will be a strong northern demand for Southland sheep. "Last week," said a. Clutha farmer who had visited North Otago, "a farmer I know near Palinerston South lost nine cows— starved to death. The Palmerston water supply has failed. Their water 19 got from wells, the pumps j being driven by an oil engine, but the j wells are dry, and the peoplo are considering a _schem9 to establish a reservoir back in tho hil l and bring the water from there. I met .1 Southland dealer the other day who had been through the district -m a. cattle buying •ventuix;. I asked him how he Rot on, and his reply was, 'Oh, I got only one uuck— all 1 could risk; tho others were too weak to stand trucking. They would have died on the journey south. 1 " And the prices paid by the dealer for tho cattle purchased were only 15s to 20s a head. At tho annual meeting of the Canteroury Chamber of Commerce, the presi- ' dent, Mr. K. G. Stav-sley, referred to what he considered was a momentous feature in tho prevailing tendency to reduce pastoral holdings. It was, he stated, a truism that tho merino was tho foundation of Canterbury's fine flocks, and consequently of the reputation which Canterbury hud attained for its prnno mutton. It was equally true that merino flocks could be profitably and adequately maintained upon small areas, so as to provide for tho nnuual supply of ewes necessary for tlio breeding and rais'ng of prime half-brccis and cimsbreds for oxpoit. Ho took tlio opportunity to sound a note of warning against the subdivision of gnuing pioperties iuto blocks of insuiliueut aiej-

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